I know I keep talking about parades and the like going on but let me take you through this weekend. It is Sunday right now so more could actually happen than what I will write about but you will get the idea of what it is like on the weekends here. Now remember, this is a town of about 8,500…

Friday they put up a big band stand in the parking lot about a block from the apartment we stay in. When I walked around town I found a couple blocks the other direction in the square by the Church, there was yet another band stand set up too. Then they started installing bleachers and sitting area in the parking lot. Well I was walking around because there was suppose to be a Parade at 3pm and the blocked all the streets off at 2 so I figured they were getting ready. I should have known better because the 3pm start actually started just before 4pm, in typical Ecuadorian fashion.

And through it all most of the crowd was absolutely amazed by it all.

Now this was just the Parade on Friday afternoon. After the 3 hour Parade, there was the bands playing. Saturday and all was fairly quiet. That is until about 5pm when the bands started up again. It was a rockin’ good time for sure.

So now it is Sunday and the only real sounds I have heard today are the Church bells. Perhaps this evening will be quiet.

UPDATE: It was not a quiet Sunday. The bands started playing about 4pm and it was music and speeches until about 8:30pm. So much for a quiet Sunday:)

Every week it seems there is a Parade of some sort. Since we are currently right downtown and most activities go right down our street the activities keep us busy with the bands and the like. In fact we just received an email that outlined the celebrations for September and it looks like a very full month of activities. An amazing amount of activities for a town of 8,500. But I digress the purpose of this little post was to talk about the Horse Parade that happened today.

The first information we received about today’s Parade said it would start something like 9:30am; then we were told 10:00am; a couple days ago they changed it to 11:00am. Well… it did start about 11:45. Remember this is Ecuador and they have there own time zone and nothing starts on time. But finally, here they come…

They even have floats too – here are a couple examples…

What parade isn’t complete without dead chickens I ask you…

Of course we had to show you a star of future parades too…

Remember that old Cher song – Bang Bang – remember the words?
I was five and you were six
We rode on horses made of sticks
I wore black, you wore white
You would always win the fight
ok ok here is a link to the song – not the original but still the same
Cher – Bang Bang
It kinda fits to the song don’t you think?

Here is another little cutie from the Parade…

This was a very slow parade but some were ready and expected it to be slow. We happened to capture this couple that were even tied onto their saddle. The look in his face says it all…

Yes there were horses too – I would guess about 150 or so.

All in all, we had a great day watching the Parade.